Privacy

The idea of private.....it never really exists. People think that the actions they do will stay between themselves and whomever is around. However are our lives ever really “private”?

Right now I can go to 411.ca, type my name and get my phone number and street address at the same time , I can then go to Google  and type my address and see my house and my vehicle and get step by step directions on how to get there. I can go to www.123people.ca and type someone’s name in, and anything associated with them on the internet will be shown. All of this and i can honestly say that i know nothing about the internet or technology. I often ask myself what are people that have more experience and knowledge of the internet than i do able to do?

Our live are plastered on the internet, it is involuntarily placed, which is described above, but it is also voluntary. Facebook, allows people to create a profile of themselves and share it with the world. All of this reminds me of Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon.

Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon was really based on the prison system. It was an idea for a prison built in a circular shape with prison cells all around the edge facing a watch tower in the middle. The guards in the watch toward could see into ever cell, however the prisoners inside the cells could not see into the tower. This approach was brought forth at first as a way to save money because it needed fewer guards, however, it then became clear that this fear of being watched and caught doing something wrong is what would keep prisoners in check in their cells.

Is that what is going on now in our society? With all this technology and information on every individual available at the click of a button our living in a panoptic state? we are CONSTANTLY being watched!

We value prvacy however we never really have it. In order to have privacy we need to have money. in order to TRULY have privacy we need to be able to pay people.